Paths to War: An Introduction to WWII

Objectives Analyze the global causes, course, and consequences of World War II and the post-war events Crash Course: World History #38

Causes of WWII World War I and the Treaty of Versailles Appeasement Rise of Totalitarianism Militarism and Expansion

World War I and the Treaty of Versailles Causes of WWII World War I and the Treaty of Versailles Germany lost land to surrounding countries War reparations Germany forced to pay 33 Billion US Dollars! Germany goes bankrupt, suffers extreme hyper-inflation Desperate people turn to totalitarian leadership

Causes of WWII Appeasement Giving someone something to make them happy and leave you alone Hitler demanded land that wasn’t Germany’s and others just gave it to him Nations were trying to prevent war…. It didn’t work Appeasement just showed Hitler that he could do whatever he wanted

Rise of Totalitarianism Causes of WWII Rise of Totalitarianism Review: What is Totalitarianism???? A system in which the state and its leader have TOTAL control Individual rights are not viewed as important as the needs of the nations No right to vote No free speech Government controlled economy Often military or police controlled

Communist Dictatorship Military Dictatorship Totalitarianism Germany: Hitler Fascist Dictatorship Italy: Mussolini USSR: Stalin Communist Dictatorship Japan: Hideki Tojo Military Dictatorship

Militarism and Expansion Causes of WWII Militarism and Expansion Hitler and Germany Move into the Rhineland Demand the Sudetenland Enacts a draft, builds up the army, creates an air force Mussolini and Italy Invades Ethiopia Tojo and Japan Seizes control of Manchuria Moves into China Together, Germany and Japan plan to over take Russia

Who Was On Each Side??? Axis Powers Germany Italy Japan Allied Powers Great Britain Soviet Union United States (Enters in 1941 after the attacks on Pearl Harbor) France (Surrenders to Germany in 1940 after 6 weeks)

Axis Powers: Key Players   Adolph Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Nazi Germany Fascist Italy Japan 

Allied Powers: Key Players Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill Franklin D Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Joseph Stalin Great Britain Great Britain United States United States USSR 1937-1940 1940-1945 1933-1945 1945-1953 1922-1952

So…. How did this all get started?

The German Path to War WWII had its beginnings in the ideas of Adolf Hitler Hitler’s Beliefs: Germans belonged to the Aryan race The Aryan race was superior to all other races and nationalities Germany was capable of building a great civilization Germany needed more land to build this civilization an support a large population Hitler's Goals: Germany would find this land to the east, in the Soviet Union Once the Soviet Union was defeated the Russians would be used as slave Germany would resettle the land and the Third Reich would dominate Europe

The First Steps WWI and The Treaty of Versailles- (A Cause of World War II) Limits Germany’s military power… HOW???? Hitler, as chancellor, stressed that Germany wished to revise the provisions of the treaty through peaceful means Germany “only” wanted it’s rightful place 1933: Germany withdraws from the League of Nations March 9th, 1935: Hitler announces the creation of a new air force One week later a military draft was enacted that would expand Germany’s army from 100,000 to 550,000 troops Ummm.. Why did this violate the Treaty of Versailles???

The First Steps Hitler is convinced the Western states had no intention of using force to maintain the Treaty of Versailles March 7, 1936: Hitler sends German troops in the Rhineland Part of Germany, but according to the Treaty of Versailles, it was a demilitarized area, meaning Germany was not permitted to have weapons or defenses there

The First Steps France had the right to use force against any violation of the demilitarized Rhineland Would not act without British support Great Britain did not support the use of force against Germany Viewed the occupation of German territory by German troops as a reasonable action by a dissatisfied power The Germans were only, “going into their own back garden” This is a policy known as appeasement– Belief that dissatisfied powers would be content if Europe satisfied reasonable demands Hoped it would lead to peace and stability in Europe This policy of appeasement is also a cause of WWII

New Alliances Hitler gained a new allies Benito Mussolini Long dreamed of creating a new Roman Empire in the Mediterranean October 1935: Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia France and Britain (the League of Nations) opposed this invasion, but didn’t stop it Mussolini welcomed Hitler’s support 1936: Germany and Italy both send troops to Spain to help General Francisco Franco in his military revolt against the democratic government in the Spanish Civil War On other side, France, Britain and U.S. supported Spanish republic, but couldn’t agree on a course of action Only the Soviet Union sent support to Spain’s republic, so Franco won

New Alliances October 1936: Mussolini and Hitler made an agreement recognizing their common political and economic interests Called the Rome-Berlin Axis November 1936: Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact Promises a common front against communism Hitler and Franco Hitler and Mussolini

Union with Austria 1937: Germany was once more a “world power”, proclaimed by Hitler Convinced neither France nor Great Britain would provide opposition to his plan. Why???? 1938: Pursues his goal of Anschluss (AN-schluss), or union with Austria, his native land Threatens Austria with invasion Forced the Austrian chancellor to put Austrian Nazis in charge of the government This new government invited German troops to enter Austria and “help” maintain law March 13, 1938: Hitler annexed Austria to Germany

Demands and Appeasement Hitler’s next objective was the destruction of Czechoslovakia September 15, 1938: Hitler demands Germany be given the Sudetenland An area in NW Czechoslovakia that was inhabited largely by Germans Said he would risk “world war” to get this territory

The Munich Conference British, French, German and Italian representatives attend the Munich Conference None of them object to Hitler’s plans, but instead meet nearly all of Hitler’s demands German troops were allowed to occupy the Sudetenland Czechs, abandoned by their Western allies, stood helplessly Not at the conference, has no voice, looses about 1/3 of their land This was the high point of Western appeasement of Hitler British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, declared the agreement meant “peace for our time.” Hitler had promised Chamberlain he would make no more demands Chamberlain, like many others, believed him Hitler however, becomes more convinced that the Western democracies were weak and would not fight He was by no means satisfied at Munich

How would you feel if the Nazis took over your country???? This lady is saluting with tears as the Nazis enter into Czechoslovakia!!

Hitler Invades March 1939: Hitler invades and takes control of Bohemian and Moravia in Western Czechoslovakia In the eastern part of the country, Slovakia became a puppet state controlled by Nazi Germany March 15, 1939: Hitler declares in a speech in Prague that he would be known as the greatest German of them all

Britain and France React Finally, seeing this aggression, the Western states realize that Hitler’s promises are worthless and empty Hitler demands the Polish port of Danzig Great Britain offers to protect Poland in the event of war Great Britain and France also realize that the Soviet Union is powerful enough to help contain Nazi aggression and they begin political and military negotiations with Joseph Stalin Review: Britain and France sent troops to fight against communism during the Russian Civil War, so, they weren’t “close” to the Soviet Union

Hitler and the Soviets Hitler pressed on in the belief that the West would not fight over Poland But, he feared the West and the Soviet Union might make an alliance This would mean a two-front war for Germany August 23, 1939: Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact Germany and the Soviet Union promise not to attack one another Hitler offered Stalin control of eastern Poland and the Baltic States Hitler didn’t care about promises, he often broke them and planned to fight the Soviets anyway This was an attempt to try and stop a two-front war, although the Soviets join the side of the Allies after Hitler’s attacks The World is shocked when Hitler announces the nonaggression pact With this pact, Hitler now feels he has the freedom to invade Poland without fear of Soviet aggression

WWII Begins September 1, 1939: Hitler invades Poland September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

The Japanese Path to War September 1931: Japanese soldiers had seized Manchuria Had natural resources Japan needed Worldwide protests The League of Nations condemns, but refuses to use force (as does the US) Japan withdraws from the League and over the next few years strengthens its hold on Manchuria and begins to expand into North China

War with China China already at war with Chinese Communists Didn’t have the resources to also fight Japan Chiang Kai-Shek, leader (Nationalist…not Comm.) Allowed Japan in part of Northern China, an attempt to appease Japan Japan didn’t stop there December 1936: Chiang ended his military efforts against the Communists and forms a new united front against the Japanese July 1937: Chinese and Japanese forces clashed south of Beijing and hostilities spread.  1937: Japan took capital of Nanking (Beijing) Up to 300,000 Chinese massacred-“Rape of Nanking” All out war between Japan and China

The New Asian Order Japan planed to seize Soviet Siberia Needed its rich resources During the late 1930s Japan worked with Nazi Germany Japan assumed that the two countries would ultimately launch a joint attack on the Soviet Union and divide Soviet resources between them The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact forced Japan to rethink their goals Japan couldn’t defeat the Soviet Union on their own; not enough resources Became interested in the resources of Southeast Asia Could supply Japan’s military This move risked war with European colonial powers and the US

The New Asian Order Summer 1940: Ignoring the risk, Japan invades French Indochina Wants its resources The US objected Warned Japan it would apply economic sanctions– restrictions intended to enforce international law– unless Japan withdrew These sanctions would cut off the oil and scrap iron Japan was getting from the US Japan viewed this as a threat to its long-term objectives Japan is now caught in a dilemma To get resources from SE Asia, it would have to give up its resources from the US

The New Asian Order Given this dilemma, Japan makes the decision to launch a surprise attack on the US as well as European colonies in SE Asia Japan wanted to prevent the U.S. from joining the war and stopping Japanese expansion Thought it would destroy U.S. capability to fight the sea war Launches an attack at the US Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, HI on December 7th 1941